Thread-winding guide



` ATS l' T FFC.

THOMAS B. DE FOREST, OF BIRMINGHAM, CONNECTICUT.

THREAD-WINDING GUIDE.

To all 'whom tt may concern:

Be it known that I, THOMAS B. DE FOR- EST, of Birmingham, in the county of New Haven and State of Connecticut, have invented a new and useful Thread-finding Guide; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accom panying drawings and to the letters of reterence marked thereo-n.

My invention relates to a new article of manufacture having for its object a portable and conveniently handled guiding instrument, whereby thread may be guided onto a rot-ating bobbin or spool from another spool; whereby the uniform lling or winding of the said rotating bobbin is facilitated; and my -said invention has for a further object; a conveniently located and arranged holder for the spool 'from which thread is to be guided and wound onto the rotating bobbin. And to these ends my said invention consists: in combining with a convenient handle or holder, guides for the thread, and a trictional tension arranged substantially in the manner hereinafter specified; and my said invention further consists g in combining with the handle or holder and the guides for the thread, a spool holder which forms part of or is attached to the handle, and is so arranged as to permit the ready removal ot' the spool.

In the accompanying drawings, forming partof this specification, Figure l represents a perspective view ot a form of my invent-ion which I prefer. Fig. 2 shows a longitudinal section of the same with spool F removed.

Similar letters of reference denote the same part in both the gures, wherein- A is a short wooden handle of such form as to be convenient-ly held in the hand; this handle `is prolonged in front of the part which would be naturally grasped by the hand'and is furnished at its end with a tapering metallic tube or ferrule B, which ferrule tapers to nearly a point leaving only a small opening c at its end; the handle A does not reach in to the end of the ferrule B. A hole c is made through the side ot' the ferrule near its end.

In the wooden handle A a small metallic tube D is secured, projecting far enough above the surface of the handle (and at a right angle with it) to receive on it a spool of thread (F Fig. l) as represented. A wire G lits into the tube D, and projecting above it is bent over at a right angle and is again bent downward, as shown, so that its end enters a hole e in the handle at some distance from the spool F and in front of it..

Two loops or eyes c3 and c"L are formed in the wire G which eyes form guides to lead the thread from the spool. The course of the thread, when the instrument is prepared for use, is indicated in Fig. l by a red line; it is threaded rst through the loops or eyes ct and c3 and is then wound around the tapering ferrule B, as represented, sufficient numbei-'of times to produce a proper degree of tension to lay the thread tightly upon the bobbin to be wound, it is then threaded `through the hole 02 in the side of the ferrule B and out at the hole c at the end of the said ferrule.

To use the described winding guide; the end of the thread, which projects out of the hole c, is secured to the bobbin to be filled, the said bobbin is then put into rotation and the winding guide is held, by the handle, with its point quite close to the rotating bobbin and is moved from end to end of the said bobbin to lay the thread evenly, which delivered ata uniform tension by the instrument. To remove the spool F, to substitute another, the bent wire Gr is removed by being drawn out of the tube D and the spool can then be lifted off from the said tube. The wire G should-lit into the tube tightly enough to prevent the spool from becoming accidentally displaced.

' A modification of my invention is represented by Fig. 3 which shows a perspective view of the same, part being shown in section, and in which A is a metallic case of cylindri lal form, open at one end but dra-wn `down at the other in such a way Yas to receive a stout wire B which projects from the case and which is bent. into two loops or eyes c and c2 one of them being at the extreme end of the wire. O is a cover or head to close the open end of the case and slips into it as shown. F is a spool of thread in the vcase A which case forms at the same time a spool` case and the handle by which the instrument may be held. A small hole c3 is .made through the side of the case A at about midway of its length.

To prepare this instrument for use the thread (indicated by a line in red) is brought out at the hole c3 and is carried down, as

shown to the eye 02 through which it is threaded and is afterward wound around the straight part of the wire B, between the eyes c2 and c, to form a frictional tension; it is then passed through the eye c in the end of the wire. t

If it should be desired to use the described winding guide, temporarily with a different kind of thread from that on the spool (F) the said thread may be threaded through the eyes c2 (Fig. 3) and c (the thread from the spool F being withdrawn from them) and the instrument may be used with this different thread without removing the spool F, the spool from which the thread is drawn being held in the lap. If preferred the instrument may constantly be used in the last described manner.

The principal use for which my invention is found valuable is in filling or winding the shuttle bobbins -of sewing machines, and by mode, as the thread may be guided more regularly onto a rotating bobbin by the delivering point of the winding guide held close to the said bobbin, than when the thread is simply allowed to slip over the linger which must almost necessarily be held Aat some considerable distance from the bobbin.

A constantly equal tension is kept upon the thread by the frictional resista-nce applied between the receiving and. delivering guides or eyes, which tends to uniformity of result. the rapid passing of the thread over them is avoided by use of the instrument.

I do not wish to be understood to limit my claim of invention to the particular form or dimension of my invention herein described and represented; but

That I claim as a new article of manufacture and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

A portable thread winding guide, substantially such as hereinbefore described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand this first day of August, 1860.

THOMAS B. DE FOREST.

Witnesses: i

H. J. Scorr GooD C. B. RICHARDS.

Cutting and burning the fingers by 

